The six-lane coastal freeway that races past oil wells and offshore drilling platforms slows to a leisurely pace a hundred miles north of Los Angeles at SANTA BARBARA . Beautifully sited on gently sloping hills above the Pacific, the town's ubiquitous red-tiled roofs and white stucco walls of its low-rise buildings form a backdrop to some fine Spanish Revival architecture, while the golden beaches are wide and clean, lined by palm trees along a curving bay. Although a large portion of downtown has been replaced by a vast, upscale shopping mall, Santa Barbara has managed to retain its quaintly upscale yet relaxed character.

The mission-era feel of Santa Barbara is no accident. Following a devastating earthquake in 1925, the entire town was rebuilt in the image of an apocryphal Spanish Colonial past, with numerous arcades linking shops, cafés and restaurants, and a pedestrian-friendly layout that serves visitors well - a far cry from LA's all-consuming auto-worship. State Street , the main drag, is home to an appealing assortment of diners, bookshops, coffee bars and nightclubs. The few remaining genuine mission structures are preserved as El Presidio de Santa Barbara (daily 10.30am-4.30pm; suggested donation). At its center, the 200-year-old barracks, El Cuartel , stands two blocks off State Street on Perdido Street; the second-oldest building in California, it now houses historical exhibits and a scale model of the small Spanish colony. The more recent past is recounted in the nearby Santa Barbara Historical Museum , 136 E de la Guerra St (Tues-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm; suggested donation), full of Spanish and Victorian memorabilia.

State Street leads half a mile down from the town center to wooden Stearns Wharf . Built in 1872, it was nearly destroyed in November 1998, when a third of the pier was engulfed in flames; restoration efforts have now made it home to an array of shopping stalls and food vendors, with magnificent beaches stretching in either direction.

In the hills above the town is the beautiful Mission Santa Barbara (daily 9am-5pm; $4), with a colorful twin-towered facade, the so-called "Queen of the Missions," though it was one of the later ones constructed in California. A small museum displays artifacts from the mission archives. Other missions in the area are Santa Inés, just outside the kitsch Danish town of Solvang heading north on US-101, and La Purísima, the most completely restructured of all the missions, about twenty miles northwest of Solvang on Hwy-1.

Santa Barbara

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